Renovating a community kitchen to feed 1,000 more children

Fundacion Alimentar Colombia
Cartagena, Colombia

THE ORGANIZATION

Fundación Alimentar Colombia is a non-profit organization dedicated to reducing childhood malnutrition in Colombia through its communal kitchens program. Currently operating five kitchens in Cartagena, the program serves over 1,600 low-income children daily, preparing meals from surplus food sourced from local markets and restaurants. In doing so, they not only reduce food waste but also provide nutritious meals to children in need.

A unique aspect of their operation is the community engagement model, where the children from low-income neighborhoods who are served by the kitchen—often lacking basic municipal services like running water and electricity—contribute by collecting trash from their surroundings. This initiative not only helps keep the community clean, as there is no regular trash pickup, but also teaches the children responsibility and essential values such as patience, gratitude, and kindness. By encouraging them to bring their own clean food containers and follow community kitchen rules, Fundación Alimentar fosters a supportive and respectful environment.

THE Project

To provide meals for more children living in extreme poverty, Fundación Alimentar Colombia needed to enhance its central kitchen facility, where food is prepared and distributed to five community kitchens via refrigerated trucks. Before these upgrades, the organization was preparing over 1,600 meals daily using surplus food recovered from local sources. However, limited cold storage capacity made it difficult to keep donations fresh, forcing them to turn away food or make difficult choices. With the support of Kids First, the addition of a new cold storage room allows Fundación Alimentar to keep more food fresh for longer, enabling them to accept and store larger donations.

This project also included essential infrastructure upgrades to meet food safety standards, expanded storage space, and the acquisition of modern cooking equipment to increase meal capacity. The improved kitchen now allows for a more efficient and positive working environment for staff, helping them cook and prepare meals with greater ease. Thanks to these upgrades, Fundación Alimentar can now reach an additional 1,000 children, helping to nourish more kids. These improvements are making a tangible difference in the team’s daily work and in the lives of the families they serve.

Juan Gonzalez, Director of Operations at Fundacion Alimentar Colombia, says, “This upgrade means we can expand our reach and provide more meals to more families in need. You are helping us to feed more kids and build a stronger future for them.”